There
is no shortage of scaremongers who believe that the future of the
Internet — and by some extension, humanity — relies on keeping the
Internet an even, open and neutral platform for the flow of information.
It
can be tough to tell whether the concern is legitimate. After all, the
grim picture of an Internet that more closely resembles cable TV is a
far-off notion compared to the open platform enjoyed today.
Or maybe not. A look at the wireless industry now makes the doomsayers look more like soothsayers.
Mobile
carriers have begun to give the world a picture of what a net
neutrality-free Internet could look like. Wireless companies have slowly
but surely begun to roll out plans that favor certain content providers
or entirely limit access to particular sites and apps.
Regulation
of this activity is tricky. It is an area that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler
has said is under supervision but "should not be prohibited out of
hand." Wheeler has not been shy about going after companies for limiting
consumers' access, but has little legal basis for going after the deals
made between companies. (The FCC declined to comment for this story.)
Here's a rundown of what T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint have been up to:
T-Mobile
and music: The "un-carrier" has looked for ways to attract younger
consumers that tend to do data-intensive smartphone activities.
Streaming music from the likes of Spotify tends to take a toll, so
T-Mobile decided to stop counting it against data plans.
AT&T
and sponsored data: Sponsored data is the term that usually refers to
companies paying providers to give consumers preferential access to
certain websites and content, often by not counting the activity against
consumer data plans.
This
type of plan has been in the works for some time, but finally launched
in early 2014. Re/code reported that it has some smaller customers, but
no big names as of yet.
Sprint
and its Facebook/Twitter plan: This might be the most disconcerting
plan of them all. With this deal, customers don't have access to the
Internet; they have access to channels. Customers can choose to have
access to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram (or all four for an
additional charge).
Sprint
bills the deal as a way for customers to have more choice while also
serving to provide access for lower income customers.
As
these deals pile up, a less-than-rosy picture of the future of mobile
Internet begins to emerge. Fred Wilson, a prominent venture capitalist,
recently took to his blog to discuss how these plans can seem
advantageous. He focused on "zero rating," in which companies pay
providers so that their content does not count against data plans.
"The
pernicious thing about zero rating is that it is marketed as a
consumer-friendly offering by the mobile carrier — 'we are not charging
you for data when you are on Spotify,'" he wrote in a post.
"But
what all of this zero rating activity is setting up is a mobile
internet that looks a lot more like cable TV than our wide open
Internet," he wrote. "Soon, a startup will have to negotiate a zero
rating plan before launching because mobile app customers will be
trained to only use apps that are zero rated on their network."
It's
not that wireless Internet might end up becoming tiered for everyone,
but freedom could become an expensive feature of smartphone plans.
Mobile
broadband is regarded by the FCC differently from "fixed" broadband,
which is Internet service used by devices at certain endpoints, usually
computers. The most important distinction comes from the 2010 Open
Internet Order, which detailed that mobile had to abide by transparency
requirements but not other rules that helped ensure net neutrality for
fixed broadband.
The
order meant that wireless companies like AT&T, Verizon Wireless,
T-Mobile and Sprint could strike deals with companies that would
prioritize certain content.
This
might not have seemed as big of a deal in 2010, as mobile data usage
remained a fraction of the larger Internet. That changed as smartphones
matured, networks grew faster and more companies tailored content for
the mobile experience.
To
capitalize on this growth, mobile broadband providers have rolled out
new data plans that put caps on usage and charge for overages. Many
plans once offered limited voice minutes and text messages with
unlimited data. That has now flipped, with data capped and voice and
text an unlimited afterthought.
Data
caps are not unique to wireless companies, and are on their way to a
broader landline market. Comcast has been testing such plans and its
chief executive has already said "usage-based billing" is on its way.
The
combination of data caps and sponsored content deals suddenly make the
dystopian Internet future more believable. With Internet consumption
pushing more into mobile, the lack of rules ensuring equal access is
providing some idea of what might happen if the FCC is unable to enforce
net neutrality rules.
The result, unfortunately enough, looks a lot like a nightmare dreamt up by the most paranoid net neutrality advocates.
Posted by : Gizemon
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